Chapter XVI ATTTTTTTAAAACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK- Wait No, I Need to do Somethings First

Percy slipped out of his cabin, wondering to the arch way. He examined in closely, glaring at it. If he concentrated, and held up his hand close to the invisible protective wall, he could see a dark red glare around his hand. Percy let out a long breath. That was the magic. The magic that kept the monsters away from camp borders. He poised a hand to his chin. Now. How to destroy it?

He looked around himself, examining the arch. What if he destroyed it? No, that probably wouldn't work. The arch was necessarily the vital part, it wasn't part of the magic itself, it was just connected to the magic. He looked outwards, toward the forest. He almost slapped himself for his own stupidity.

Muttering to himself, he crossed the border, stepping slowly towards Peleus, the drakon which protected Thalia's tree. Of course the tree would be the thing he needed to attack. If it wasn't keeping the borders together completely, they were certainly the main source. If Percy got rid of the tree, the magic should be at least weak enough for the monsters to cross with some effort.

He stopped several yards away from Peleus. He bit his thumb in thought. How to do this? He wasn't quite sure how well his powers would work on the creature, and at the same time he wanted to try something new. What if he...

Percy held his hands out in front of him, closing his eyes in concentration. He reached into his subconscious and tried to imagine his powers as a personification, a literal being, doing his dirty work for him. He grunted almost silently, willing the personification to become reality. To become a being. Percy almost sagged with the effort, eagerly fluttering his eyelids open to watch. From his hands came a wispy black smoke, twirling around his fingers, his hands, his arms up to his elbows before gathering on the ground in a seemingly endless puddle. It then gathered itself, presenting itself to Percy before him. Percy had to beam with pride. He felt like a father.

In front of him was a ghostly being, seemingly in the shape of a little girl who came up to his chest in her floating stance. It was hard to distinguish, everything being the same, blacker-than-black shade, but it almost looked as if a dress was floating about her, hair twirling around her razor sharp fingers and bony arms. He couldn't make out any facial features besides glowing white holes where her eyes should have been.

He made a shooing motion, and she took off in a spinny-sorta-movement to attack Peleus. The drakon stood up abruptly, waving its head about violently to dispel the black force attacking it. Percy watched with a growing smile as Peleus struggled, before collapsing, writhing on the ground as Percy's creature completely encompassed the drakon with black smoke. When the black smoke vanished, before becoming one solid being again, Peleus wasn't moving at all. Percy beamed. He strolled forward happily, jumping on Peleus and laughing as he jumped off again. The drakon didn't move. Sighing in content, Percy circled his creation. Really, it was brilliant, floating before him emotionlessly, ready to attack should he give the command. He tilted his head at it. He wondered if it could kill the tree. Percy looked at the tree. It was a magnificent, towering pine tree, topped with pine cones and stretching high into the night sky. Percy placed his hand on the bark. He could feel the magic humming beneath his fingers. He stepped back, motioning once with his finger for his creation to attack it.

His creature wisped forward, wrapping around the base of the tree in a twirling mass. It circled, becoming faster and harsher, as though it was getting angry. Percy frowned as he watched. The form abruptly moved up, circling around various branches and going up the length before coming back down and resting at Percy's feet. Even though its face was emotionless, Percy couldn't help but think he could see rage and frustration in its glowing eyes.

He looked back at the tree. For some reason, his creation could attack it. He motioned to attack it again. His creature remained motionless. Maybe it knew it was futile?

Percy looked back to the tree. Maybe it just couldn't find a way to get into the tree? To attack it. Percy considered the thought. It sounded plausible. Percy pulled Riptide from his pocket, twirling it in his fingers, before he poised if like and ax and swung it violently at the tree. He repeated this, counting to ten before considering it. He felt like he made a big-enough dent. Percy motioned for her to attack it again. This time she flew forward, into the gap, and disappeared. Percy stepped back as the tree started to tremble in moments, quivering and shaking violently.

Percy could only smile in satisfaction as he watched the branches wither, the leaves turn brittle, the pine cones call around him. Then, smaller branches fell. Percy looked towards the gap he had created, watching as it got larger and larger as the tree blackened, tilting as it started to fall.

Percy begun to worry that someone would hear the tree crash, and so rushed back to his cabin, trusting his creation to come back when it was done. He hardly made it to his cabin when he heard the earth-shaking crash rock the camp. Moments later, a black wisp flew under the door, becoming stationary in front of Percy, who was sitting on the floor, having been knocked over in the mini earthquake. He smiled. "Is it dead?"

The creation nodded it's head once. Percy smiled approvingly. "Good. Hmm...you need a name. What shall I name you?" Percy got to his feet, circling her. "Do you have a name?" She shook her head, otherwise motionless. Percy stopped in front of her, squinting as he tried to look into her glowing eyes. Finally, he smirked in triumph.

"Nightshade! I shall name you Nightshade, in honor of Zoe. Get it? Because it's Thalia's tree that you destroyed?" He waited for a response and received none. Percy huffed. "Of course you don't. You're no fun." Unable to get a rise out of the creature, Percy glared. "Dismissed." He said shortly. Nightshade vanished into the air.

Percy then strolled back into the camp, feeling the magical borders weaken as he entered. It made him feel proud of himself. He was going to be slowly destroying the camp, and so effectively too! Now, he just had to do one more thing to ensure nothing got fucked up in the chaos of battle the next morning.

When he made it to the big house, he quietly materialized inside. Now he had to locate the rooms. He knew they weren't upstairs. All that was up there was the attic. And no one wanted to go in there. Hmm. Maybe he should scavenge through that sometime to see if anything useful was in there. The hydra, who he had named Fluffy, was just supposed to mainly be a distraction, after all. He was disposable. So he shouldn't really damage the house. Of course, Percy would have him step and trample whatever part of the house they were in, to make it look like they had actually been killed by a monster, but he didn't think the attic would be damaged in the process.

Percy checked the adjacent hallways next. One lead to a small conference area that Percy vaguely recognized. The next one he tried, he came across to closed doors. Percy put his hand up to one, concentrating. Sweat beaded down his face slowly, but then he could sense it. He could sense the dreams, the mindless, inane creates that were meant to entertain the brain while someone slept.

He smiled, and did the same to the one across, finding the same thing. Nodding to himself, Percy stepped back. He wasn't sure how he wanted to do this. He could put them into eternal sleep like he did Athena, but he wanted to watch the fear in their eyes more than anything. Yes, it would be a bit more messy, but if Fluffy was going to stomp on the house that didn't really matter. Really, it was just a choice of whether he wanted to have fun or making neat and quick.

Percy wasn't a very organized person by nature anyway.

"Nightshade." Percy called lightly, feeling the enigma leave his body even before he had fully summoned her. The thing. It. He wasn't sure what to call Nightshade. He'd figure it out later. He tapped his lip. She was him, so she should know what he meant, for the most part.

"Trap." He commanded. Nightshade spun in a slow circle in between the two rooms, gaining speed as it went. It spun faster and faster, dress-thingy flaring out and touching the two doors from the middle of the highway. The shadows jumped from the dress, onto the doors, crawling up and attaching themselves before seemingly disappearing completely. Nightshade once again held still, waiting for his command. Percy put a hand to the door. He could feel the dark magic humming beneath his palm, unseeable, but palpable in its intent. He tried to touch the knob, but his hand was forced back. He imagined it would be much worse for someone else, should they try.

"Good. Dismissed." Percy said lightly. Nightshade disappeared. Percy smiled, giddy as he walked happily back to his cabin.

Percy went to bed. His plan was ready. All he had to do was wait for the attack, which should be happened around six thirty, when campers were still sleeping and unaware. Percy relaxed into his bed sheets. He had a big day tomorrow. He needed all his energy. Taking over the world was a long, tiring process.

~~~

How many of you recognize the monster-girl thingy? How many got a feels attack when I named her? How many are even still reading this stupidly long and probably (by now) boring story? *Sigh*

REFERENCES. REFERENCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Sorry I'm hyper for some reason. You guys liking this so far? I donno. I hope so. :)

I couldn't really find anything so...tree picture.